Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a telecommunications industry standard that has been developed to deliver data content to cellular telephones and other wireless devices. WAP was developed in large part to promote uniform specifications for technology useful for developing applications and services that operate over wireless communication networks. WAP specifies an application framework and network protocols for wireless devices such as mobile telephones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
One objective of the WAP specification is to extend mobile networking technologies (such as digital data networking standards) and Internet technologies (such as XML, URLs, scripting, and various content formats). WAP-enabled devices have been used to deliver Internet content and other data services to users of wireless devices. Conventional WAP-based systems have been used to deliver text-based content to wireless devices. Examples of text-based content that has been delivered using WAP-based systems include: email, sports scores, headlines, and news stories.
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML) is another new standard directed to delivering Internet content and data so that the content and data are accessible through voice-based devices. One objective of the VXML standard is to provide speech-enabled applications over the Internet. For example, VXML might be used to deliver the XML-formatted contents of a web page in an audible format for delivery to the computer speaker of a sight-impaired user.
Although WAP and VXML provide new ways of accessing web-based information, each standard has its limitations. Typically, VXML is implemented in applications involving speech recognition in which spoken commands are used to access information or complete transactions. Often, information in audio form is convenient, but applications are often limited by the need for a limited vocabulary or by a requirement that the user remember arcane verbal commands. While speech recognition technology is advancing, errors frequently occur.
WAP-enabled devices support the use of icons and other text-based menu selection tools to access information. For example, most WAP-enabled cellular telephones can deliver content in text-format and rudimentary graphics. Because the WAP-enabled cellular telephone must remain portable, WAP cellular telephone displays must remain small. Hence, it is likely to remain difficult for such cellular telephones to provide large amounts of text-based content or sophisticated graphics.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an infrastructure that can deliver voice-based content to WAP-enabled wireless device, thereby enabling the device to deliver Internet content in an audible format. Preferably, the infrastructure will conform to a content format standard, such as VXML, and will enable the delivery of audible messages to a WAP-enabled wireless device and the processing of speech commands.